I have been part of this great gym in Jackson, called Mountain Athlete since October. Aside from gaining physical strength, more importantly I have discovered major reserves of mental strength. This mental toughness has really trickled into my daily routine. It has also helped with some tricky decision making when in the mountains.

We all have faced decisions in our outdoor lives where we could press on or turn back. We hope that mentally we are in a position to do what’s right for ourselves as well as others in the group. Historically, we have read stories of people pushing the limits to attain the ultimate goal, the top of a climb, the end of a class 5 river, etc. We also read stories of people making bad decisions for themselves as well as the group, which ends up in tragedy.

The following email was sent from a fellow Mountain Athlete to our coach Rob updating his climb of Aconcagua. This is a great story about mental toughness and smart decision-making. We can all relate to this story is some way. Be smart and thanks Winslow.

Email from Winslow Bent:

Hi Rob

I’m back in the US. I had a great trip on Aconcagua. Some cool pics to follow. All my training paid off, I felt strong for the duration of the climb. Mornings were slow for us all, but as we got moving and got our O2 levels up our heads and bodies became stronger. Unfortunately, on our summit day, my brother got quite sick with AMS, which cost us our summit bid.

We started our summit day by climbing up the first 500ft of the Polish Glacier at about 4:30am, under headlamp in very cold weather. We had all gotten little or no sleep at high camp (19,200ft). We slowly worked our way off the glacier and began a long traverse of the mountain. I was wearing every piece of clothing I had. Not a morning for exposed flesh. My brother was moving unusually slow and we worked our way up to 20,000 ft. I was becoming cold and impatient following him. I noticed his legs were getting pretty rubbery and we finally stopped to assess the situation. Seth, was complaining for his legs not moving. He seemed frustrated and confused. His situation seemed to be falling apart pretty fast. Interestingly, he was sort of aloof to the whole thing. He seemed like a drunk sailor. I decided to pull the plug right there, my feelings for my brother far out weighing my desire to summit.

As we prepared to descend back to High Camp a Polish couple passed us, going up. They had been moving pretty slow for a couple of days and were not very well equipped, in my opinion. I was surprised to see them slowly trudge past us. As Seth and I got back to High Camp the sun came up. Seth was still in bad shape, and getting worse. We administered some deximethazone to help with the AMS and I loaded all of my brother’s equipment onto my back. We made about a four hour decent back to base camp (14,000ft). By the time we were back at base camp, Seth was in great shape. Both of us had shed some tears on the way down.

When we got back to Base Camp another climbing team from RMI had radioed down to us. It was 6pm and they were established at high camp, and in position to summit the following morning. A Polish man approached the RMI team at high camp at about 9pm and said that a couple he knew, also from Poland, was still on the mountain(above 20,000ft). He said that the couple was very sick and cold and that he could not get them to move down the trail. The other RMI guide, Casey, explained to the man that they would probably die if they were not off in the next couple of hours. Casey gave him some Dex and he headed back up to help his friends.

Long story short, I saw the Polish couple the following day. The girl had black lips and a nose that was pretty grey. The man was in really bad shape, he just looked dead. I think his left eye was damaged. He had a horrible cough(HAPE). Apparently the girl had left her boyfriend at about 22,000 and headed for the summit. He had basically collapsed. By the time she returned, she too was too tired to descend. I guess the other Pole with the Dex must have saved them.

I later saw them off the mountain. Infection was setting into her frostbite, his eye was wrapped up. She looked like she was going to loose her lips, but her nose was only superficial frost nip. The guy still looked dead. All she had to say was, “I made it to the top!”.

I guess in the end we all have to make decisions. Their’s was to summit. Mine to descend. We all have our days, and I stand by my decision to turn back 100%. I love the mountains, but I love my family, god, and self more. The mountain will always be there and because of good decision making and mental toughness I was able to make the right decision when it counted most.

Thanks for all your help, Rob. I was way strong for this trip. Every single ounce of blood, sweat, and tears from Mountain Athlete was necessary to prepare me for that Monster of a Mountain!!!! Carrying all my brothers stuff down was a bitch!!!

Thanks,
Winslow

PS- I need a week or so of rest and would love to come back for some training.